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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Review coming soon because this book was INCREDIBLE and I have a lot to say
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was very unexpectedly interesting?? I can’t say that this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever read and it’s definitely something I don’t think I would’ve ever read had I fully known what I was getting into. I liked it tho and couldn’t stop reading once it picked up like 40% of the way through.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Such a fascinating look into Korean culture and history. As someone who loves true crime it was so fun to see it from a different perspective.
This was a little slow moving, but ultimately was an enjoyable book. June Hur tells the story of Seol, a young woman indentured to the police force in a town in 1800s Korea.
Seol is the youngest of three siblings who were exiled for reasons that are gradually revealed in some detail over the course of the book. The siblings have lived quiet lives, and several years earlier her elder brother and sister fought, and her brother left them, never to be heard from again, and Seol desperate to find him. When, years later, money was scarce, Seol’s sister indentured Seol to the police. Seol was not happy, and left to look for her missing brother. Thought to be an escapee, she was branded when caught and returned to work.
Seol works as a damu, a female servant/assistant to one of the investigators. Male police officers were not allowed to touch female suspects, so damu were vital during investigations.
At the start of this story, a young, wealthy woman is found dead and mutilated, and investigator Han and Seol are assigned. During the long and complicated investigation, we find out a little about the dead woman, who was a convert to Christianity, which, is illegal. We meet a variety of people also to whom the dead woman’s secrets, including her religious beliefs and her sexual relationships, would be harmful.
During all this Seol feels she must dig deeply into people’s statements and motives, and not be swayed by political pressures; she ends up making breakthrough after breakthrough on the case, thanks to her role as a damu, which allows her to interrogate various women involved (and ignored by other investigators) with the case.
Running through all this is Seol’s constant feeling of loss for her brother, and the pain she feels for the people suffering as a result of her quest for the truth.
Seol is fabulous; she has an unshakeable core of integrity and this leads her to make hard decisions. She has a keen eye, and despite her two investigations (dead woman and her brother) causing her a lot of pain, I loved how she stuck to her plans.
This was a fascinating look at a tiny piece of Korean history I knew nothing about, and not only was the murder investigation full of what I enjoy (false leads and political tampering), I enjoyed watching Seol keep going forward.
And the story’s ending was both heartbreaking and gratifying.
Seol is the youngest of three siblings who were exiled for reasons that are gradually revealed in some detail over the course of the book. The siblings have lived quiet lives, and several years earlier her elder brother and sister fought, and her brother left them, never to be heard from again, and Seol desperate to find him. When, years later, money was scarce, Seol’s sister indentured Seol to the police. Seol was not happy, and left to look for her missing brother. Thought to be an escapee, she was branded when caught and returned to work.
Seol works as a damu, a female servant/assistant to one of the investigators. Male police officers were not allowed to touch female suspects, so damu were vital during investigations.
At the start of this story, a young, wealthy woman is found dead and mutilated, and investigator Han and Seol are assigned. During the long and complicated investigation, we find out a little about the dead woman, who was a convert to Christianity, which, is illegal. We meet a variety of people also to whom the dead woman’s secrets, including her religious beliefs and her sexual relationships, would be harmful.
During all this Seol feels she must dig deeply into people’s statements and motives, and not be swayed by political pressures; she ends up making breakthrough after breakthrough on the case, thanks to her role as a damu, which allows her to interrogate various women involved (and ignored by other investigators) with the case.
Running through all this is Seol’s constant feeling of loss for her brother, and the pain she feels for the people suffering as a result of her quest for the truth.
Seol is fabulous; she has an unshakeable core of integrity and this leads her to make hard decisions. She has a keen eye, and despite her two investigations (dead woman and her brother) causing her a lot of pain, I loved how she stuck to her plans.
This was a fascinating look at a tiny piece of Korean history I knew nothing about, and not only was the murder investigation full of what I enjoy (false leads and political tampering), I enjoyed watching Seol keep going forward.
And the story’s ending was both heartbreaking and gratifying.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not gonna lie, the beginning was a bit too slow and it dragged a bit for me to get hooked on it.
But when I picked it back up this month, I arrived to the plot point where I could not put the book down!
I loved the vibes of this book, I loved the entire find-the-serial-killer case we followed with Seol. And I also loved the family aspect of it.
It's been a long while since I read a historical fiction, and it's my first time reading one set in Joseon Korea, and I think I will for sure enjoy the rest of June Hur's books set in that timeline of Korea. For sure, for sure.
Now onto my favorite quotes/passages (some of them are quite long):
But when I picked it back up this month, I arrived to the plot point where I could not put the book down!
I loved the vibes of this book, I loved the entire find-the-serial-killer case we followed with Seol. And I also loved the family aspect of it.
It's been a long while since I read a historical fiction, and it's my first time reading one set in Joseon Korea, and I think I will for sure enjoy the rest of June Hur's books set in that timeline of Korea. For sure, for sure.
Now onto my favorite quotes/passages (some of them are quite long):
"Officer," I whispered, "do you ever grow accustomed to death?"
Shim peered up at me, his eyes reddish-brown, as though he had witnessed so many executions that if he were to cry, blood would flow out instead of tears. "No, Damo Seol," he replied, his voice soft. As though he were a brother speaking to a little sister. "Seeing a dead person will continue to be difficult."
"How can you tell if someone has seen death, as you have?" I have asked.
"Some cry, some are desperate for distraction, but most of us... Most of us go mad."
"And when you write, every brushstroke must be decisive, with no going back."
"It is like life," I said under my breath, as a warning prickle ran down my spine. "There is no going back."
Before he could leave, I startled to my feet, unable to hold down my curiosity. "Why have you confided in one such as I?"
"Why, don't you know?" He looked at me and arched a single brow. "Everyone here in the bureau is too quick to judge, and it will end in the death of someone innocent. But you, you are an eavesdropper. The only person in this bureau who truly listens."
I watched him walk through the pines, heading into the shadows cast by the first light of dawn. All on his own. He had done his best, and with the memory of the dead drenching the forest floor, the smell of their blood was so thick in the air it was hard to breathe.
Unmindful of the killings, a lone bird called out a blissful song, the welcoming of a new day.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I betrayed you, sir."
"Do not be. Sometimes betrayal is the deepest expression of love."
"Inspector?"
His eyelids flinched. A sign, perhaps, that he's heard me.
I was running out of time, yet I had so much to say. "In those letters," I blurted out, "did you ever write about me?" I knew he had, but I wanted him to speak openly, to share more about what he thought about me. It was my only way of asking him, Do you even care?
The slightest smile tugged at his lips, like a rare ripple in the calm sea. "Tomorrow, Seol."
Just then I heard approaching footsteps and male voices. I rose from the floor and hurried to the door, struggling o breathe through the swelling of mingled panic and hope. But just as I reached the door, I heard it.
A deep sigh escaped his lips. The sigh of a weary traveler at the end of a long journey.
I looked over my shoulder, and it took seconds before I mustered up enough courage to lower my eyes. Inspector Han's gaze stared out like windows opened onto a dark and empty expanse.
I fell onto my knees and dragged my fingers across the floor until I touched the tips of his. Cold and still.
The outside wind burst into the office as the physician, along with Commander Yi, rushed in. There was no more space for me now to remain. Through the blurring of my vision, I turned to look at Inspector Han one last time and I smiled - twisted and crooked, but a smile all the same.
His little sister, Jeong Jeong-yun, had been loyal to him in the end.
INSPECTOR HAN'S LAST LETTER TO THE DEAD
The great rainy season continues. I traveled through the mire and went to Inchon Prefecture to speak with Older Sister, to see where you had grown up, but I turned back at the gate of her hut, deciding that I could not face out past. You want and need from me what I do not know how to provide. I can do so through my imagination by writing this letter to you, but not in person. I would not know how to be the brother you long for.
I turned to travel back to the capital, where I am wanted. On the way, I looked to the east, and can you imagine what I saw, Little Sister? I saw the memory of you during our journey to Suwon, laughing and shaking as you rode through the overflowing grassland. I was glad to see you so amused and grateful to see how you had grown.
Older Sister and I did not think you would live past your tenth winter. When you were a child, every time I left to collect wood, you fell ill. You were so weak and your stomach so sensitive.
It bewilders me how you returned so capable and clever. Now you are taller than most men in the bureau. Your bones still look brittle enough to break, except you know how to protect others. It is hard to believe, but you are not a child anymore. You grew up and now you are strong without me.
Perhaps much later when Older Sister is sixty and you are forty-seven, we will greet each other again and our hearts will brim with fullness.
Until then, I will be on my way home.